Highly Anticipated Halifax Harbour Sailing Tours Coming Soon

A variety of Halifax Harbour sailing tours will be available in the near future

By JAMES RISDON on May 10, 2017

Photo Credit: Herald file

Four months after selling his ownership stake in Ambassatours Gray Line, that tour company’s former president is headed back to the waters of Halifax’s inner harbour — but not in one of the ever-popular Harbour Hopper amphibious vehicles. This time with something new, a daily variety of Halifax Harbour sailing tours for all ages.

Jeff Farwell is launching a new tour experience, with packages for families, partying adults and those with a taste for fine Atlantic Canadian wines and cheeses, aboard a 45-foot sailboat.

The Beneteau-built Oceanis 45, which will feature a teak deck, three staterooms below, a 57-horsepower inboard engine, and a spinnaker sail, will be able to average about 7.5 knots, or about 14 kilometres per hour.

It’s still being built in Beneteau’s facility south of the border and should be ready in early June.

By June 23, that sailboat — dubbed the JFarwell — should be fully equipped, tested and ready for passengers to come aboard at the dock along Founders’ Seawall at 5052 Salter St.

“I couldn’t be happier or more excited with what I’m planning to do this summer,” said Farwell in an interview Tuesday.

All Aboard!

He’s expecting to take up to 12 passengers and three crew out with each of the six daily sailings. He has already started hiring people to work aboard the JFarwell but is still looking for more deckhands.

“I’m going to hire 3-5 deckhands to help operate the vessel,” he said. “They need to have sailing experience because we want our staff to come in with good experience. And the other part of it is personality.”

Farwell and his younger brother, Jordan, will be the Halifax Harbour sailing tours vessel senior captains.

The entrepreneur, who grew Murphy’s The Cable Wharf for 10 years until that company merged with Ambassatours in August 2014 and then served as that tour company’s president until late January this year, sold his ownership stake in it for an undisclosed amount.

At that time, Ambassatours announced Farwell was leaving to manufacture amphibious vehicles based on a prototype developed during the refurbishment of the company’s Harbour Hoppers.

Tuesday, Farwell said that’s still part of his plan but he said it’s something which will take time. That project is still in need of about $3.5 million in investment to get it off the ground.

“It’s not that it has taken a back seat but it’s not my major focus,” said Farwell. “It’s in the preliminary stage. We’re looking for some investment capital for a prototype. I’m looking to create the global standard for amphibious vehicles.

“(These amphibious vehicles) do produce excellent returns,” he said. “It would be a cash cow.”

Involving the Passengers

While that project is getting underway, the 41-year-old is launching his sailing tour experience company, J. Farwell Sailing Co. Inc., with an investment he will only describe as “upwards of $500,000”.

“That’s just for the boat and startup costs,” he said. “This vessel is fully equipped with all of the latest electronics to make it very easy to handle, but I will be disengaging a lot of the equipment so guests can have a very hands-on experience.

“They’ll be pulling, winching, the sails,” he said.

Although Farwell would not divulge the number of bookings he has so far for this tourism season, he said he’s confident the JFarwell will be almost fully booked during the months of July and August, once word gets out about the sailing experience.

Ambassatours is handling all his bookings through its nine kiosks along the waterfront and its website. Although Farwell’s company will offer tours on the water, much as Ambassatours already provides with several of its offerings, a company spokeswoman said the JFarwell is being viewed as a complementary offering rather than competition.

“Within our own family we have seven different vessels,” said Ambassatours’ Terri McCulloch in an interview Tuesday. “Jeff’s ship is quite high end and that’s something we don’t offer.”

Farwell’s primary target market is Nova Scotians aged 40 to 65 who he estimates will account for 60-70 per cent of his business, with the rest of the bookings coming primarily from tourists seeking a unique experience.

Although the JFarwell will be available for private bookings for such things as corporate events and weddings, its bread and butter will be a series of four daily tour packages.

Prices? Best time of day to set sail?

“We’ve designed the day to take advantage of the various markets,” said Farwell. “In the morning, there’s not generally as much wind, so it seemed like a good time to take out families and show them not only how to sail but also to take them below deck and show them the navigational charts and take them on a tour of the boat.”

It’s not the cheapest way to spend 90 minutes, but it is a quality experience.

Even this tour, called Morning Family Fun, will run at $69 for each adult and $39 per child, although there is a family rate of $210 which gives a break to families of four or more.

The Signature Sailing experiences, offered at noon, 2 p.m. and again at 4 p.m. are for those who want a more vigorous outing.

“The wind usually picks up around noon,” said Farwell. “It’s a little bit more adventurous. That’s when we will get people up and hoisting the sails . . . We’ll give people a feel for everything we do — jibing, tacking and downwind runs.”

At that time of the day, the prices will also be higher, at $99.99 per adult and $69.99 per child. That’s steep for families with children but Farwell said that’s deliberate.

“We’re trying to charge more because we want to encourage kids to come in the morning, when it’s calmer and the winds aren’t as strong,” he said.

In the evening, when the wind dies down a bit, the schedule calls for longer, more leisurely Wine and Cheese at Sunset sailings. At 2.5 hours, these tours are geared to the wine connoisseur, with offerings from Carl and Donna Sparkes’ Devonian Coast Wineries. The cost? $149.99 each.

Then, at the end of each day, the JFarwell will take out groups for Moonlit Sails. That package is geared to friends who want to go out for drinks on the sailboat in the inner harbour. It’s being billed at $69.99, with a cash bar.

When can I go!

The JFarwell will provide tours through to the first week of October to take full advantage of the peak cruiseship season. Then she will winter at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron on Purcells Cove Road.

In the first year, Farwell is expecting to bring in revenues of about $225,000 and then build on that in 2018 as more people become aware of the Halifax Harbour sailing tours. He’s hoping for rave reviews on the highly influential TripAdvisor.ca website.

But Farwell also admits this is one project that’s not really about the bottom line. (Hey, it’s a chance to make a living on a yacht surrounded by other people enjoying themselves.)

“It’s not about the money at all for me,” he said. “The thing that excites me is to find something I love to do and share it with others. I love the ocean and being a part of it.”